Singapore Resort Owner Said in Talks to Buy Hotel From BlackRock

By Pooja Thakur -
Apr 3, 2014

Royal Group Holdings Pte, the
closely held company that owns The Sentosa Resort & Spa in
Singapore, is in talks to buy a hotel in Kuala Lumpur from
BlackRock Inc., according to a person with knowledge of the
matter.

The transaction needs government approval, the person said,
declining to be identified as the talks are private. BlackRock
declined to comment in an e-mailed response to queries on the
sale from Bloomberg News.

The 540-room DoubleTree by Hilton is located at The
Intermark, an office and retail complex within a 10-minute walk
from the Petronas Twin Towers and Kuala Lumpur Convention
Center.

Hotel investment volumes in the region reached a record
high with 143 deals valued at $13.4 billion last year, according
to CBRE Group Inc.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, sold its
Westin hotel in Singapore’s new central business district last
year. The 305-room hotel in the Asia Square Tower 2 commercial
development in the Marina Bay area was sold to Daisho Group,
BlackRock said in December.

Royal Group bought The Sentosa Resort & Spa in Singapore
last year from Hong Kong-based HKR International Ltd. for
S$210.85 million, HKR said in a filing on Aug. 15.

BlackRock, based in New York, last year bought MGPA, a
private-equity property investment advisory firm, to expand its
real estate business in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe.
Together with the MGPA assets, Blackrock manages about $23.5
billion, focusing on real estate funds management, co-investments and separate-account mandates for institutional
investors, BlackRock said in October.